Detachable clasp for wearing-apparel



(No Model.)

' J.H. szw. o; STEWART. DETACHABLB LASP 1:"OR WBARING APPAREL.

Patented June 9, 1896,

JAMES Il. STEXVART AND VILSON C. STEWART, OF NEVARK, NET( JERSEY.

DETACHABLE CLASP FOR WEARlNG-APPAREL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 561,736, dated June 9, 1896. Application filed October 12, 1.895. Serial No. 565,463. (No inodehl To (thi whom it may concern:

Be it known th at weJAMEs H. STEWART and VILSON C. STEWART, citizens ot' the United States, residing at Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Detachable Clasps for l.Vearing-Apparel, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the saine.

The primary object of this invention is to `furnish an improved clasp 'for uniting the ends of mourning hat-bands, such as are applied to gentlemens hats; but the clasp described herein is also adapted for uniting the ends of belts, garters, and analogous articles of wearing-apparel.

The invention consists partly of a clasp which comprises two hook-plates hinged together and adapted to fold upon one another so as to tighten the band before the engagement of the hooks, and partly in the combination, with a hat-band having the Aedge formed with recesses to tit the brim at the side crown, ot' a tightening-clasp having its parts attached to the band adjacent to the recesses, so as to locate the clasp at the side of the hat-crown when the band is secured thereon. The hooks are formed upon the outer sides of the hook-plates, and when one plate is folded upon the other the hooks are both concealed, while they retain the band by its tension upon the body to which it is applied. The band maybe made endless and the two hook-plates secured therein. hook-plates are adapted to fold upon one another theyT forni a jointed connection in the band itself, and are adapted to tighten the band and to hold the same tightened upon the hat-crown. The band may also be made of a flexible strip with the two hook-plates attached to one end of the saine, a catch being attached to the opposite end of the band to engage the outer hook-plate.

In practice the material of the band is utilized as a hinge between the two hook-plates by securing the hook-plates upon the band adjacent to one another, by which construction the plates can be folded upon one another, is required, to tighten the band and engage the hooks, the clasp thereafter operating thc saine as in the endless band, as the As the folding over of suoli leat' serves to tighten the band upon the hat-crown, while the engagenient ot the two hooks, at the close of the folding operation, secures the hook-plates together and retains the band upon the crown. The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings, in which- Figure l is a side view of the band with the fastenings secured thereon. Fig. 2 is a de tached view of the catch-plate. Fig. 3 is a front View, and Fig. 4 an end View, of the hinged leaf. Fig. 5 is a front view, and Fig. G an end view, of the hook-plate; Fig. 7, a cross-section of the hinged leat` and the hookplate engaged. Fig. 8 shows the end of the belt slitted for application to the fastenings. Fig. 9 shows the ends of the band attached by engaging the catch with the hook upon the hinged leaf in readiness to tighten the saine upon the hat. Fig. l0 exhibits the relation of the plates o. and e when thus engaged. Fig. ll is a section on line ll 1l in Fig. 10. Fig. l2 shows a section of the hat-crown at one side with the ends of the band and the hinged leaf turned over in readiness to engage the hooks. Figs. 13 and le show the band in plan and side view with the ends fully clasped together.

Figs. 2 to '7, inclusive, as well as Fig. l0, are drawn of the natural size, while the remaining figures are drawn one-half their size.

ln Fig. l the end ot the band A, which has the catch-plate attached thereto, is designated A', and the end having the hinged leaf is designated A2. The catch-plate a (shown in Fig. 2) is a rectangular piece of sheet metal long enough to extend across the band, with a longitudinal slot b forming a wall b" at one edge. Shoulders s are formed in the ends ot the slot to engage the hook upon the hinged leai` e, which is shown in Figs. 3 and e, with a slot e2 near the edge, the 1n etal from which is pressed upward to form a hook c', projecting toward one edge of the saine. The hook-plate cis formed in a similar manner, with the hook c shortened to fit between the shoulders s in the manner hereinafter described.

In applying the band to the plates the ends of the band are slit, as shown at t in Fig. S, to forni tongues j, which are folded over the ends of the plates, and a tongue 7c, which is extended through the slot in the plates and IOO hinged leaf and overlapped upon the inner side of the band. The leaf and hook-plate are thus attached by folding the slit end of the band over the same and cementing the fold to the plates and to the inner side of the band. The plates c and hinged leaf e are adjusted a little distance apart within the fold, so that the fabric or material of the band extending between the adjacent edges of the plates forms a hinge-piece 7L, as shown in Fig. S). Upon the outer side of the band only a small portion of the plates is exposed, with the hooks o and e' projecting therefrom and turned backwardly from the end of the band. lVith the band thus prepared its application to the hatbody is very rapid and simple.

The ends A and A2 are drawn together, as shown in Fig. 9, until the bar Z/ upon the catch-plate a can be slipped over the hook e upon the hinged leaf. The shoulders s prevent the inner side of the hook from contacting with the bar b/ and leave a portion of the s lot l) in coincidence with the slot e2 upon the hinged leaf,as shown in Fig. 10. Such en gagement may be made with the band wrapped about the hat-body, the band being so proportioned that it is not tightened upon the body until the hooks c' and c/ are engaged. Such engagement is effected, as shown in Fig. 11, by folding the hinged leaf over upon the hookplate c, thus drawing the end of the band A2 tightly aro un d the hat-body. Vhen the hooks are engaged, the hook c passes not only under the hook e, but entirely behind the body of the leaf e, as shown in Fig. '7, thus pressing the plates c and e closely together and effectually preventing any disengagement of the parts.

The material of the band is made elastic to permit the application of the hooks to one another, while the tension of the band afterward holds them engaged. The elasticity of the band also permits their disengagement when required. The hook c is not essential to secure the two plates together, as the hook e is substantially engaged with the back of the plate e through the slot c2, as appears by examination of Fig. 7 but the hook c' serves to guide the hook e into the slot o2 when folding the hinged leaf over, as shown in Fig. 11.

From inspection of Fig. 12 it will be obvious that the hinged leaf, with the hook e adapted to engage the hook c', (or to engage the plate c by penetrating the slot c2, as shown in Fig. 7,) serves to tighten the band, because the end A' is attached to the hinged leaf, as by the catch-plate d.

It isobvious that it would tighten the band in a precisely similar manner if the end A of the band were permanently attached to the outer edge of the hinged leaf--in other words, if the band were an endless band and provided with the hook-plates c and e, secured upon the band at a suitable distance apart to form an intermediate hinge h. The folding over of the hinged leaf upon the plate c, precisely as shown in Fig. 12, would then opervate to tighten the band upon the hat and would serve to wholly conceal the plates, as is plainly shown in Fig. 14. XVe have there fore claimed the hinged leaf in combination with a band for tightening the same, whether the band be endless ornot.

The band, when completely connected, as shown in Figs. 13 and 14, is securely held upon the hat-body by the elastic grip of the material. Ve not only make the band with a detachable clasp, as shown and claimed herein, but we trim the lower edge of the band with a double convex edge, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to fit a hat-brim which has a set given to it by pressing upon a horizontallycurved flange. As hat-brims are all shaped upon such a flange at the present time, we form the edge of a mourning-band with the two convex projections f, having an interme diate recess g, and the band narrowed in a corresponding manner upon the under side at the ends A and A2 to form a recess g nnder the clasp, as shown in Fig. 1l. The proj ections f touch the hat-brim at the front and rear sides of the crown,where the brim is bent downwardly, while the recesses g and g lit the curve of the brim at the sides of the crown. The hook-plates and the catch-plates are thus attached at the narrowest portion of the band, and when the ends of the band are joined together by the clasp the recesses g are exactly adapted to t the brim at one side of the hatcrown, and thus locate the joint of the band at the precise point upon the crown where it will look best.

On January 17, 1888, a patent, No. 376,428, was issued to James lV. Corey for an int proved mourning-band for hats, which em bodied an endless band of bombazine coated with india-rubber and adapted to iit elastically upon a hat-body. Such hat-band has gone into extensive use, and later inventors have sought to utilize the same material with a detachable clasp, but none of such clasps are adapted to materially tighten the hatband as it is secured upon the crown of the hat.

The present invention comprises a clasp adapted to engage the ends of the band tolgether in a slaclened condition upon the hatcrown and to thereafter tighten up the hatband with considerable tension and to hold the same firmly in such tightened condition. The hinge-leaf e is of construction almost identical with the hook-plate c, as is clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5 of the drawings, and the two plates may therefore be termed hookplates, which are hinged together and their outside edges so attached to the band as to tighten the same when they are folded upon one another. Their operation in folding would be the same by whatever means they are hinged together, and it is therefore immaterial whether the fabric of the band be-used as the hinge or other means be provided for jointing the plates. VThe clasp is obviously applicable to a ladys belt or other analogous construction.

IOO

IIO

Having thus set forth the nature of our invention, what We claim herein isl. The combination, with a band or belt, of lthe plate e hinged to one end of the hand and provided with hoch c", the plate c secured to the band adjacent thereto and provided With slot c2, the catch-plate ct attached to the opposite end of the band, and the hook e being adapted to first engage the catch-plate, and afterward to fold over upon the plate c and engage the slot c2, as and for the purpose set forth.

The combination, with a mourning hatband, of the means herein described for tightening the band upon the hat, consisting of two hook-plates attached thereto, with a portion of the fabric forming a hinge between the same, the hooks being adapted to interlock when the hinged leaf or plate is folded backwardly, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture,a mourn ing hat-band having at one end the plates c and e formed respectively with the hooks c and e and slots through the plates adjacent to such hooks, and at the opposite end With a catch-plate a adapted to engage the hook e', substantially as herein set forth.

a. As a new article of manufacture,a mourning hat-band curved upon its edges to it the set of the hat-crown, and provided, adjacent to one of the recesses in the edge, with a clasp adapted to first tighten the band upon the hat-crown and to then hold the band in such tightened condition, as and for the purpose sct forth.

5. The combination, With a mourning hatband formed upon one edge With the two projections f, the recesses g between the same, and the recesses g' at the ends of the band, of two hook-plates hinged together upon one end of the band and a suitable catch upon the other end of the band to engage the outer hook-plate, the hook-plates being adapted, When folded upon one another, to tighten the band and loosen the hooks, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JAMES H. STEWART. WILSON C. STEWART. Vitnesses JOHN A. LEE, THOMAS S. CRANE. 

